Embraer and Austral Líneas Aéreas, Aerolíneas Argentina’s domestic airline, have extended their Flight Hour Pool Program agreement until 2021 to continue providing repairable component support for the carrier’s fleet of 26 E190 jet aircraft. The announcement was made during the Embraer Operators Conference, held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from October 31st to November 2nd.

The multiyear program that originally began in 2011 features both the Pool Program and repair management services for the carrier’s E-Jets, which includes material services engineering, advanced component exchanges from Embraer’s spare parts warehouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and a dedicated logistics channel to deliver parts to the Aerolíneas Argentinas cargo facility in Miami, Florida.

“We value our partnership with Austral and we look forward to supporting their business by servicing their fleet of E190s in the following years,” said John Linn, Embraer Vice President, CRM, Commercial Aviation. “Through Embraer’s Pool Program, Austral will increase their competitiveness by having the ability to focus on operating the aircraft at high levels of reliability and availability, while letting Embraer manage the supply-chain for high-cost rotable components.”

“This program is a key component of our fleet maintenance plan, as it will allow us to reduce lead times and costs for spare parts' supply, hence helping us elevate the service to our passengers,” said Bruno Finiello, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Grupo Aerolíneas.

Embraer’s Flight Hour Pool Program, which currently supports more than 30 airlines worldwide, is designed to allow airlines to minimize their upfront investment on expensive repairable inventories and resources and to take advantage of Embraer’s technical expertise and its vast component repair service provider network. The results are significant savings on repair and inventory carrying costs, reduction in required warehousing space, and the elimination of resources required for repair management, while ultimately providing guaranteed performance levels.